Sunday, January 9, 2011

Enshrining the Giants

Starting pitcher
JC Parsons

Nope, this post has nothing to do with the frigging Hall of Fame. It is much more personal than that. For most of my considerable Giants fandom, I have maintained a special or sacred place; filled with relics and objects dedicated to that obsession. In other words, a Giants shrine. Some years it is small and understated. That, of course, would be completely inappropriate in the case of this glorious year. This year's version includes a collector's set of four 2010 pins (on the scarf in the photo), a madri-gras necklace, 2 WS Championship stickers, a circular 2010 NL Championship pennant, and a 2010 World Series Championship pennant . Oh yeah, attached to the scarf are about 5 official holograms peeled from various other items o' swag (you can see one clearly at the top center).

Please tell me I'm not THAT weird. I mean, you guys have shrines in your house too? Right?

10 comments:

You are not weird at all. My husband and I have two shelves of bobbleheads and one entire shelf of World Series goodies, including a hat and all the magazines. The biggest thing going up soon is my Christmas present. My husband bought all of the playoff and World Series tix online and had them custom framed with a plaque in the middle. It's going over the couch. I really enjoy your website, especially since Matt Cain is one of my favs since I saw his first major league start. Keep up the good work!!Kim

Very nice, Bro.The only baseball related object on display in my home is my 1914 autographed photo of George Sisler. Yep, it's real. It's not a baseball photo, however. It's his yearbook photo from the University of Michigan. He and my grandfather were in the same fraternity.The signature says,Fraternally"Sis"(Sisler's coach at Michigan was the immortal Branch Rickey. Sisler and Rickey maintained a close relationship for the rest of their lives. I have a theory that they were secret gay lovers. This is corroborated by the fact that Rickey was known as a devout Christian.)

Starter shrine?? There are at least seventeen distinct pieces, ALL of which have individual significance to me. "World Series Champions" appears ten different times! Only Bro and fastturtle gave me any details...makes me wonder if you guys even keep your stubs. Give me details.

@fastturtle: Thanks so much for commenting, glad you like the site. The framed tickets sound SPECTACULAR.

I did a little fact-checking on myself- the Sisler photo is more likely from 1915, the year they graduated, and Grandpa Parsons & Sisler were in fact roommates, not just frat bros. I have old photo albums and there are multiple photos of the two of them together.In case any of you don't know, Sisler was one of the greatest first baseman of all time. In 1999 The Sporting News named him the 33rd best ballplayer ever. He batted over .400 twice. And of course a few years ago he regained a little attention when Ichiro broke his record for most hits in a season.